Swarna Hansa or Golden Swan according to the legendary lore is gifted with the special faculty to discern and drink the milk leaving the diluted water.
Swarna Hansa is the symbol of discernment.
Discernment; the prerequisite for effective development.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Pinthaliya water for living

An unnoticed but a very important component in the water culture of Sri Lanka is the pinthaliya, the traditional drinking water pot placed and maintained by the communities by the way side in those good olden days. The intention of placing a pinthaliya in a village was to treat water as sacred and valuable. The water was purified by the traditional water pot and people who passed by on the road sides had free access to this pure drinking water to quench their thirst. Naturally that was a way of ensuring preservation of water resources and preventing it from being polluted. Reinstating the usage of the pinthaliya will not only be a way of having safe drinking water, but also a way of reviving the age old pottery industry, which was undermine to import unsafe aluminum utensils. Pinthaliya therefore is identified by Swarna Hansa Foundation as a sustainable indigenous solution to safe drinking water problem.

Thus Project Pinthaliya was added to the "Water for Living" programme which is now being implemented as a trilateral approach to the drinking water problem in Sri Lanka. Swarna Hansa Foundation has encouraged traditional pottery artists to construct pinthali with the intention of reviving this ancient art. Swarna Hansa Foundation distributed 500 pinthali in Colombo South, Galewela, Galgamuwa and Wewniya, in addition to earlier 500 distributed mainly in the Southern coastal areas of Sri Lanka. These were distributed among temples, medical centres, preschools and community centres, taking the message "safe drinking water ensures health".

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About Me

Swarna Hansa Foundation was established in 1979 with the purpose of safeguarding the national culture from being subjected to total erosion with the opening up of the country for rapacious exploitation by the international traders. With the invasion of the concept of globalization, the term 'development' was used as an excuse for total exploitation of the national resources and people so that the national ethos would disappear paving way for their set purpose.
Swarna Hansa Foundation was of the view that 'development' was a state of affairs emerging only as a by product of a community's culture. The Swarna Hansa Foundation follows a two track programme; while one track promotes social development the other track simultaneously works to discourage ‘undevelopment’.